LegalCare — Founding Engineer

Type: Full-time | On-site | San Francisco, CA Compensation: $250,000 + 10% equity Hiring count: 1 Visa sponsorship: None available Reports to: Founder (currently the only full-time person in the business)

About LegalCare

LegalCare is building the first primary care-style law firm — an AI-native team of attorneys spanning 16 practice areas (family, employment, personal injury, immigration, and more) whose only job is to meet one-on-one with people seeking a lawyer, diagnose exactly what they need, and triage them to the right outside firm or nonprofit. Advice sessions are free to consumers; the firm earns revenue by sharing in the fees partner firms generate from referred clients (15-35% depending on practice area), a structure only available because LegalCare is itself a law firm under attorney ethical rules. Distribution runs through a free AI intake receptionist — a conversational voice agent plus an embeddable web form — that LegalCare gives to other firms. When a caller's needs fall outside what that firm offers (10-20% of calls) and the caller consents, the caller is transferred to LegalCare in real time.

Founded: 2026 | Team size: 1-10 (bootstrapped) | Total funding: Bootstrapped Industry: Legal Tech Website: legalcare.com Office: San Francisco, CA

Traction: Founded by a former startup and venture-capital attorney. 16 practitioners have already signed on across practice areas, the first version of the intake receptionist is built and working, and early partner-firm outreach is converting at a 15-20% reply rate.

Why Candidates Should Join

• First engineering hire, founding seat: 10% equity and full ownership of the core product, reporting directly to the Founder.
• A working model with real traction: 16 practitioners already signed, a live intake prototype, and referral economics that only a law firm can legally run.
• End-to-end scope: own the voice AI receptionist, the referral platform, and forward-deployed installation at partner firms — product, infrastructure, and direct customer contact in one seat.

Intake Call Summary

• Not provided on the role page. An intake video is present but not transcribed; no written intake summary or screening questions were included.

The Role

The company's first engineering hire, tasked with taking the founder-built voice AI intake receptionist from working prototype to production-grade system, owning the referral platform, and personally deploying the product into partner firms.

What You'll Be Doing

• Take the conversational voice AI intake receptionist end-to-end from prototype to production-grade reliability across live client calls and the embedded web form
• Own privacy and security hardening for sensitive client interactions, plus the infrastructure for handling client funds
• Build and own the referral platform connecting partner firms, LegalCare attorneys, and referred clients
• Install and integrate the intake receptionist at each partner firm, including their existing phone systems and IVR configurations (primarily remote, with occasional on-site work for the largest firms)
• Build additional product workflows beyond initial qualification, iterating directly against feedback from firms in the network

Tech stack: Not specified on the role page.

Requirements

• 4+ years engineering
• Applied AI background
• Voice AI or telephony exposure
• Production reliability and security ownership
• SF Bay Area, 4+ days in person
• Visa: are you authorized to work in the US, and would you require new sponsorship or a transfer?

Green Flags

• Applied AI engineer from a recognized company with real production ownership rather than prototype-only work
• Adjacent domain experience in voice AI, healthcare AI intake and triage, or legal AI
• At least two years of tenure at a single company
• Comfortable operating as a forward-deployed engineer with direct contact with partner firms and their technical setups
• Coming out of a company that has wound down or an environment with limited upside, and actively looking for a high-ownership founding seat

Red Flags

• Pattern of leaving companies before the one year to eighteen month mark
• Serial founder pattern where prior ventures were paused halfway through rather than seen to a conclusion
• Seeking remote or fully hybrid work; the role requires at least 4 days per week in office
• Prototype-only background with no track record of hardening systems for sensitive, real-time production use
• Unwilling to do client-facing installation, integration, and support work at partner firms

Role Details

• Salary — $250,000
• Equity — 10%
• On-site policy — In office at least 4 days/week; expect to work beyond a standard 9-5
• Visa sponsorship — None available
• Employment type — Full-time
• Location — San Francisco, CA (or willing to relocate; relocation support for the right candidate)

Screening Questions

• Not provided on the role page.

Interview Process

Stage 1 — Pending Approval — Candidates awaiting initial approval. Stage 2 — Intro Call — Intro conversation with the Founder. Stage 3 — Second Round — Follow-up over coffee, lunch, or dinner with the Founder. Stage 4 — Work-Trial — Two to three working sessions building toward a defined goal, run on the candidate's own machine so there are no IP questions, ideally scheduled close together. Stage 5 — Offer Extended Stage 6 — Hired — Candidate accepts and starts.

Ideal Companies & Backgrounds

• Not provided on the role page.

Ideal Candidate Profiles

• Not provided on the role page.

Rejected Candidate Feedback

• None yet.

Benefits & Perks

• $250,000 base salary plus 10% equity
• Free lunch
• Relocation support for the right candidate